A little old school football took place in Death Valley this past Saturday and the good guy Tigers came out on top 14-6 thanks to a defense that relentlessly smothered Auburn. Ho hum, another victory over an SEC team and a ranked opponent. Clemson moves to 2-0 on the young season and I've generally liked what I've seen from them so far.
The offense didn't light up the scoreboard obviously, but Kelly Bryant has shown that he can clearly move the ball effectively and consistently. Some penalties and a couple of fumbles - one by a WR and one by a RB - ruined a few drives, some of those being drives where KB was looking pretty good. The fumble by Ray Ray McLoud on their second possession was at their own 10 and led to 3 points for Auburn. But KB was finally able to lead a scoring drive before the half, with a sweet 3rd and 10 throw down the left sideline to McLoud and then finished it off down at the goal line by himself. Absolutely bullied the Auburn defense into the end zone.
Early into the 3rd quarter the game saw its last points when Bryant finished off another TD drive himself, this time scampering in from 27 yards out. He's a very smooth runner and he made some awesome moves on this TD run to go up by 8. Even though the Tigers were held scoreless the rest of the game, I loved how KB made plays down the stretch. Big throws on 3rd down, runs on 3rd down, he did a little bit of everything and he didn't turn the ball over. Clemson did have the two fumbles lost but neither of them were his fault. Protecting the football is the first order of business for a first time starter quarterback and he did that Saturday.
Now let's talk about the defense. I mean they were simply unbelievable. Simply bending Auburn over basically all game. Penalties and the fumble led to 6 points in the first quarter for Auburn but that was it. And they stopped them at the goal line pretty impressively on those field goal drives. This front four is SCARY. Christian Wilkins, Dexter Lawrence and Clelin Ferrell have all been touted as potential future first round draft picks and Austin Bryant is the fourth guy on the line and he had fucking FOUR sacks on Saturday. Eleven total for the Tigers defense. Motherfucking ELEVEN sacks. One shy of the school record. Just relentless pressure on Jarrett Stidham, and after Pettway had some success running the ball in the first quarter, they shut the run down too. And don't sleep on the pass defense either. Only 79 passing yards allowed. Obviously this is in part thanks to the pass rush but I liked what I saw from the secondary for the most part as well. It was especially nice to see considering Stidham was supposed to bring a solid passing attack to Auburn this year, and Clemson didn't really get a decent test against Kent State and their 5 pass attempts in week one. I can't wait for this defense to stuff Lamar Jackson in a locker this weekend and shut up Louisville again. Those fuckbags are insufferable.
Another prime time game awaits against Louisville this Saturday. Would love to see the Clemson fans just totally take over Louisville like Georgia fans did in South Bend this past Saturday. Let's see if a Louisville receiver steps out of bounds short of a first down on fourth down in the closing minutes of a one possession game again. Probably not. This one should be all Tigers. Check out the Auburn game highlights below.
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